Niamh Cunningham, a graduate of UConn, a full-time editorial assistant at Yale University Press, and a student in Yale’s graduate program in English literature, was the ideal person to ask about the life in the world of publishing today. You can read more of Niamh’s work in Make Mine a Double, by the way; her essay in the collection is titled “Drink and the Single Girl.”

My authors can write serious volumes on some of the most complicated subjects, but when asked to fill out a 20-question form with questions on THEMSELVES, they freeze. When I send the form, I often get responses like, “I couldn’t possibly fill that out. It’s too complicated. I just don’t know the answers.” Mind you, Question 1 is “Name,” Question 2 is “Address,” and Question 3 is “Please describe your book.” They don’t get much more difficult from there.

Along the same lines,…

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